<p>so if I had a family friend who went to brown and regularly donates large sums of money to brown, would it help my chances if they wrote a letter of recommendation for me?</p>
<p>It might if they are willing to do so. Some alums don’t like to write letters of recommendation because they don’t want to be responsible if you end up not doing well…</p>
<p>if they knew you well enough and could offer some words that your teachers can’t express then it would help…</p>
<p>perfectly fine as long as it introduces NEW, UNSAID information. Don’t send a letter that just repeats or confirms the statements of others’</p>